Get me started with what is like Purdue, Va Tech, etc?

Parents Forum
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I am just starting to think about college for my middle school daughter and want to spend some time looking at different parts of the country, one trip this summer and another next to get a feel for other regions to live. (she has lived in Northern California her whole life and wants something different)

I’d like to be able to show her colleges that are in “college towns” and not really party ones. My hubby went to Virginia Tech for a while and we loved it, also Purdue. What else reminds you all of that type of feel? Am open to private or state, knowing that we will be paying out of state unfortunately. My daughter is interested in living somewhere with colder weather so am open to Georgia and north from that as well as the Midwest. At this point no specific major, but likely to be something going towards either a teacher, occupational therapy or speech therapy so know there is graduate work involved later on.

Any leads so we can start looking? Plan to go the state around Virginia/North Carolina, this summer and then Midwest next.

Jenn

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Clemson.

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^^I second the Clemson vote. The Greenville area is so pretty.

Purdue is a wonderful place in many ways, but it’s hard to imagine leaving northern CA and plopping down in flat-as-a-pancake West Lafayette, Indiana. The winters are long, cold, and harsh. There’s not much else in that area besides the university. That being said it’s only about an hour north of Indianapolis and a few hours south of Chicago. To me, the bucolic college in Indiana is Indiana University. Bloomington is much more picturesque imho. Some would probably say that about ND in South Bend but I’ve never been there myself.

Virginia Tech reminds me alot of Purdue in certain ways - very similar culture of smarter-type students. The campus is pretty with lots of school spirit.

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Visit the U of Wisconsin in Madison. An excellent college town and campus. Despite what you may have heard about “party schools” this, like many others I’m sure, has plenty of serious students. Remember the tale of the blind men and the elephant. Depending on which small part of campus or day or other factors you will see different aspects of campus. Go to Langdon St on a weekend night where the less than 10% of the students involved in Greek life are, or other party places and you will miss the rest of the student body who isn’t into that. “study hard” comes before “party hard”- visit during the middle of the week… Look first at the academic reputation of schools and see if they generally fit- the campus doesn’t matter if the student struggles or has few academic peers.

The liberal atmosphere of UW compares to Berkeley. The ethnic mix is different from the west coast.

Purdue is set in a hilly small part of the state- noticeable as you pass by on I 65. Mainly the STEM counterpart to Indiana U in Bloomington.

I think you should look at other aspects of college life than the one you think matters. First of all consider the academic fit for your D. Even her plans for a major when she starts college may evolve. A good campus keeps the students on weekends (although do not look for any action weekend mornings, that’s prime sleeping time). There is no need to leave for cities even an hour or two away. College students are not going to have/take the time to do all of the cultural things they may do later in life. They are far too busy with classes and campus related activities.

A nice summer vacation could be flying into O’Hare and renting a car. From there you can drive to several campuses in the upper Midwest, including public and private, large and small. You can see some of the many places in Chicago’s lakeshore area to have some vacation fun instead of just seeing colleges. You can head north into Wisconsin and spend a couple of days enjoying Madison. Plus points northward such as some state parks. You could drive to Minneapolis. The drive through Indiana or Iowa is flat and boring. You may want to check on arriving in one city and leaving from another.

You have a few years to take family vacations in various parts of the country with good schools. Use another one to see southern schools. Remember that student bodies reflect their region and general attitudes. Your D may fall in love with or dislike the atmosphere of different places. Also take time to explore various schools in your own state. Southern CA is vastly different than northern CA (H’s much younger cousin from S CA prefers N CA). Use the next few years to expose her to big/small, city/rural, private/public atmospheres. Seeing many different campuses will allow her to know what is the same, different so she ca appreciate things when she does her college search.

When junior year of HS comes she will be deciding where to visit.

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Having middle school / no HS stats / no test socres / no major combo means that you practically want to check every school at your desired locations.

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not really party ones
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virtually all colleges, except bible schools, are party schools…especially if they have Div I sports. When you get a bunch of 18 -22 year olds together, there’s going to be a lot of parties. So, yes that includes VT, Purdue, Clemson and the rest…even ivies and MIT. However… I wouldn’t let that aspect affect what schools to visit.

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You may want to check the out-of-state prices for these colleges and then noting that they are likely to increase. If they are expected to be unaffordable, there may be no point in visiting them and having your kid fall in love with them, only to be told later that she cannot go because they are too expensive.

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If your daughter has good test scores and a high enough GPA she may be able to offset cost with merit. Given her potential majors , you may want to look at Towson University in Towson, MD.( suburb of Baltimore) They started as a teaching school and have all three of the program’s she’s interested in.

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My D goes to Purdue and she says “a lot” of her friends “party” and drink, either at frat houses or other places.

She does not drink so I think she went to one and never goes back. She has a small group of friends who don’t drink and they hang together. You can find groups of people doing various “healthier” things together like intramural sports, clubs, ball room dancing, volunteer, movie …

Having said that, I don’t know what is “a lot” of partying and drinking. She said some of her girl friends who are very nice and do well in class also go to these parties. In my days, I drank a few in college but I never considered it a bad thing if you do it in moderation and under control. Which also means for someone like my D, zero drink, because a few sips would give her headache.

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I’m trying to think of where it is “hilly” at Purdue? My memory is not recalling that.

ETA: OK, I do remember Slater Hill. Nevertheless, Indiana (other than southern) tends to be flat.

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“I’m trying to think of where it is “hilly” at Purdue? My memory is not recalling that.”

The campus sits beside the Wabash Valley. Going from W. Lafayette to Lafayette is a bit of a hoof if your walking (nice pedestrian bridge though). Once up the hill on either side of the river it’s pretty flat.

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It has been a long time. I do remember the hill near Mackey Arena (same area as Slater Hill).

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Keep in mind the cost (in dollars and time) of travelling that far.

Can you pay for airfare for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Spring break and coming home and going back to school?
Will winter weather be a factor in travelling?

Is your child a homebody/will be homesick or are they fairly independent now?

Are they good with staying on campus during breaks (e.g. fall break or even Thanksgiving)?

Do they have any health issues where you would want them to be closer?

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<<<
My D goes to Purdue and she says “a lot” of her friends “party” and drink, either at frat houses or other places.

She does not drink so I think she went to one and never goes back. She has a small group of friends who don’t drink and they hang together. You can find groups of people doing various “healthier” things together like intramural sports, clubs, ball room dancing, volunteer, movie …

Having said that, I don’t know what is “a lot” of partying and drinking. She said some of her girl friends who are very nice and do well in class also go to these parties. In my days, I drank a few in college but I never considered it a bad thing if you do it in moderation and under control. Which also means for someone like my D, zero drink, because a few sips would give her headache.


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this is how it is at many schools. there are always some kids that will like to party and some who don’t. Sometimes, those in certain majors have little time or interest in partying very often.

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Oh my gosh. Your middle school child? Let your kids enjoy their middle school and high school years! I hope you are not trying to craft a child to fit a mold of some sort. These are the wonder years not the wonder about college years.

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I think it is OK to combine seeing different parts of the country and driving by different schools in those areas, but you may be having a positive rosy picture overshadow you.

What you may want to do is visit some of your area schools casually, talk to parents of older students, see where different older students go to college and what they relate.

Honestly,if you do more visiting FR/SO years to sort out type of campus, if far from home might work, etc. I suggest base-line ACT/SAT at end of sophomore year. Both my DDs improved ACT scores for good scholarships - with last of testing first semester senior year.

Keep following CC too.

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Visiting different parts of the country is a fine idea but how many college tours are you talking about here? She will likely be the only middle school student on the tour, except perhaps for a kid or two being dragged along with their older sibling.

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Yes, middle school is probably too early to do meaningful college visits. Best thing the parents can do now is evaluate their finances and make up a financial plan that will result in the fewest possible financial limitations on the kid’s college choices.

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Agreeing with the ‘you are getting ahead of yourself’ posters.

Visiting a college because you happen to be in the area is one thing, planning summer holidays around it at this stage has more negatives than might be apparent.

-> Visiting different regions of the US is a great thing to do, but doing so to decide what region to attend college is putting the cart before the horse. Outside the extremes, the physical location/geography is the least of it. What will matter more is things such as rural/suburban/urban; contained campus or porous / integrated with a town/city; size of student body; relative presence of sports and/or greek life; access to / facilities for activities that are of particular interest to your D- and that’s before getting to the areas of relative academic strength and the level of selectivity. None of which is your D ready to address.

->Not to mention that it is really unlikely that a summer visit will give any idea of what it is like to live in a place- especially in places that have actual winters. Purdue in July is a terrible basis for deciding whether you would like to be at Purdue in January! (also, I am not sure if I am misunderstanding your statement, or if we have different ideas of weather, but when you say that your daughter is open to ‘colder’ weather, so anything from Georgia north is ok- do you know what Georgia weather is like? It’s not a place that I would think of as having cold weather. Get north of Maryland and you start getting ‘colder’ weather!)(ok, VT is in the mountains, so it can be colder as well).

-> College visits are not fun unless the student is really interested. You are planning on 2 summer vacations of it before she is even a sophomore in high school. If she isn’t dragging you to do this, it will not only not be happy, but she will burn out on it before it actually gets serious.

-> What a 12 or 13 year old thinks is absolutely everything she would love- or everything she would loathe- is likely to be different than what her 18 year old self will prioritize. What she remembers of the places will be through 12 or 13 year old eyes, which may set ideas in place that are counterproductive later.

True story: in the spring of Grade 11 my D1 had her college list finalized, including an ED that she was completely in love with. In October of Grade 12 she applied to 7 colleges- not one of which had been on her list in the spring. That’s how much she evolved in the 5-6 months between late Junior and early Senior year- now think how much your D is going to change over the next 5-6 years!

You asked for college suggestions, but I would suggest pushing your trips back. Do one summer after Grade 10 and one spring break of Grade 11. Let her grow up a bit, get more of a sense of herself and what what her interests, strengths and weaknesses are. Get some idea of what her options are likely to be - some idea of likely GPA range and test score range, both of which she will have then.

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I can tell you from my own experience with my child: when you start talking about colleges too soon it scares them. The thought of living far away from mom and dad is a scary thought for someone 12 or 13. My child asked if we could move to whatever state she goes to college in. We visited many schools during our travels and it’s actually more fun for the parents then the kids if the kid is not ready to tackle the idea of leaving home.